The startup scene of Helsinki has evolved around giants like Nokia, gaming giant Supercell and food delivery platform Wolt. It reaps the rewards with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and engineers fueling a vibrant scene based around the Aalto University campus and the Slush startup festival, one of the world’s largest gatherings of investors and startups.
“We value work-life balance and collaboration,” explains Jone Kuittinen, Deputy CEO of the Finnish Venture Capital Association. “The guys at Supercell have been very open about paying all their taxes in Finland, and that mentality of giving back is visible now that these founders are helping many of the current funding rounds. I think the scene is going to be turbocharged.”
The country’s low unemployment meant programmers were hard to come by, says Claes Mikko Nielsen, director of VC Nordic Ninja, but a responsive government that launched a fast-track D visa in 2022 has boosted international recruitment. The next step? Greater funds for late investments.
Paebbl
“Concrete is the most consumed product on the planet after water, and it’s not slowing down,” says Paebbl co-CEO Andreas Saari. Concrete’s main ingredient, cement, is the source of 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Paebbl reverses this by using rock weathering, or mineralization, to turn the carbon dioxide into stone. Carbon captured at industrial sites is mixed with water and ground silicate to produce a solid carbonate-based material using a technique developed by Paebbl CTO Pol Knops. Paebbl founders Jane Walerud, Marta Sjögren, former Slush CEO Saari and Knops raised €8 million ($8.9 million) in seed funding from climate tech VC Pale Blue Dot, French investor 2050, the Grantham Foundation and several angels in October 2022 In May 2024, the pilot reactor released its first ton of CO2. A demonstration plant is coming online later this year, and the stone will be deployed in the field in the spring. Next is site and partner selection for four commercial-scale plants to operate by 2030. paebbl.com
Remote technologies
Distance Technologies has developed a mixed reality prototype version of a military pilot’s heads-up display (HUD) that works as a glasses-free 3D monitor. An LCD panel projects 3D images onto transparent surfaces, such as a car windshield treated with a reflective coating. The company is discussing applications of detailed 3D topographic maps projected onto cockpit windshields for pilots and night vision footage of the road ahead for drivers. The prototype is equipped with a hand tracker so users can interact with the screen hands-free. Founded in 2023 from co-founders Jussi Makinen and Urho Kontori, who met at Helsinki-based mixed reality headset company Varjo, it raised $2.7m (£2.04m) in a seed round led by FOV Ventures and Maki.vc, with David Helgason’s Business Finland and Foobar.vc. Discussions are currently underway with automotive, aerospace and defense companies. distance. tech
Stable energy
Steady Energy began at Finland’s state-owned Technical Research Center when CEO Tommy Niemann and co-founder Hannes Haapalahti decided to commercialize the center’s low-temperature nuclear reactor, the LDR-50. Most existing nuclear reactors operate at about 300 degrees Celsius, superheating steam to drive heavy turbines. The modular LDR-50 operates at a temperature between 65 and 120 degrees Celsius and heats water directly. This will be pumped around district heating networks, providing neighborhood systems with hot water from a central power station carried through insulated pipes to heat houses. These networks have long been popular in Scandinavia and the US and are spreading to other European countries thanks to last year’s EU directive expanding their use. After raising 15 million euros ($16.7 million) from Lifeline Ventures, Yes VC and Reid Hoffman’s Aphorism Foundation, Steady Energy has preliminary agreements for 15 reactors with utilities Helen and Kuopion Energy. Construction is expected to begin by 2028, with operations beginning in 2030. steadyenergy.com
Skyphora
Skyfora develops state-of-the-art tools to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts. The company offers three different weather probes called StreamSondes—ultralight atmospheric transmitters that hurricane hunters drop in the path of storms. The company also adapts satellite receivers at telecommunications base stations into a network of weather scanners that can analyze water vapor, temperature and air pressure. CEO Fredrik Borgström, CTO Kim Kaisti and co-founder Antti Pasilla raised €5 million ($5.5 million) in four rounds of funding from Icebreaker.vc, Voima Ventures and other business angels. The company’s StreamSonde was deployed during Hurricane Beryl in July, and Skyfora is now working with telecom operators to create proof-of-concept pilot towers. skyfora.com
Enifer
As far back as the 1970s, the Finnish paper industry used fungi to treat wastewater and sold the resulting mycoprotein as animal feed. The technique died with the industry, but Simo Elila, Heikki Keskitalo, Joosu Kuivanen, Ville Pihlajaniemi and Ansi Rantasalo redirected it. Together, they founded Enifer in April 2020 to develop a food-grade mycoprotein by processing waste liquids from food, agriculture and forestry. A €15m ($16.7m) Series B round in April brings total funding to €27m ($30.2m) from Taaleri Bioindustry I Fund, Nordic Food Tech VC, Voima Ventures and others. Construction on the factory began in May with the goal of reaching industrial scale by 2025. with new objects on the way. enifer.com
ReOrbit
ReOrbit is a pioneer in “software-enabled satellites,” a distributed network of secure satellites that act as the Internet of Things in space. Satellite manufacturing hasn’t changed in 40 years, explains Sethu Saveda Suvanam, CEO and founder, because they can only talk directly to Earth. Suvannam is fixing this by building “flying routers” that allow, for example, military satellites to send images of Russian ships to the Coast Guard through space at high speed, speeding up warnings. Loaded seed round of €7.4 million ($8.2 million) in September 2023. will fund an in-orbit demonstration satellite scheduled for launch in 2025. reorbit.space
Kingdom
Founders Miika Huttunen and Mikko Mäntylä met at Slush, a company with high staff turnover that resulted in lost documentation and a lack of “corporate memory”. With ex-Stripe engineer Johan Jern, they built a large AI language model that can search every digital document ever created by an organization to provide answers, for example, to sales reps’ questions about past deals. Launched in April 2023, its first funding round of €1.7 million was led by Lifeline Ventures with angels including the Helsinki founders of Zalando and Supercell. The company is now working with procurement analytics leader Sievo, gaming company Remedy Entertainment and EV charging provider Virta. withrealm.com
Bob W
Short for The Best of Both Worlds, the company operates 36 full-service aparthotels in 17 cities across Europe. The company uses a digital front desk operated by chatbot Bob W, which handles check-in and check-out, as well as booking breakfast and gym spots. The system also informs guests of their carbon dioxide emissions for each choice made. Founded in 2018 by Nico Carstico and Sebastian Emberger, the company has raised €70 million ($78.3 million). The most recent round, in March, saw €40 million ($44.7 million) raised by Wise founder Taavet Hinrikus and Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoya. The money is financing an ambitious acquisition policy, buying 20 to 25 buildings across Europe and converting them into 1,500 to 2,000 aparthotel rooms. bobw.co
Swarmy
Swarmia is a software engineering performance platform designed to make it easier for software teams to communicate, set goals, and measure performance. Key to this is software connecting other platforms like GitHub, Jira/Linear and Slack, creating “working agreements” – agreed guidelines for managers and teams on how they plan to work together. These include objectives, how they will be achieved and how results will be measured. Founder Otto Hilska was previously Chief Product Officer at Smartly.io. It has raised €13.8 million ($15.4 million) in three rounds, most recently with Dig Ventures, and is expanding into the US. Swarmia currently serves more than 1,500 companies, including WeTransfer, Hostaway, and Axios HQ. swarmia.com
Noise
Noice is all about the metagame. The live gaming platform allows viewers to bet on the results of games they are watching using digital cards. They can predict, for example, that the next kill in a game of Fortnite will involve a shotgun. Each correctly selected card earns points and these can be purchased or earned by watching ads. Founded in 2020, the company has raised a total of €25 million in two funding rounds, backed by local entrepreneurs, including the co-founders of Supercell and the co-founders of Wolt. Noice CEO Jussi Laakkonen and CTO Jaakko Lukkari met at Applifier, the Finnish company that helped developers create replayability in the game before Unity acquired the company. The company is still in beta testing with a full launch later this year. noise.com
